What's in a Name?
by ekc293
Summary: "Katherine Beckett. It had been a name that had gone through many transformations during the life of the beautiful detective." Future-fic, Kate-centric, Caskett but not prominent :


Hello again! I come bearing the gift of another Kate/Caskett fanfic!  
>To all the moms out there, Happy Mother's Day!<br>I'd also like to dedicate this to my superawesomelyfabulousfriend **Kris**, who is my Castle soulmate.  
><strong>Disclaimer<strong>: You know I don't own Castle, why would you even assume I did? I also don't own _Romeo & Juliet_, which is where the title came from (:  
>Enjoy!<p>

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><p>Katherine Beckett. It had been a name that had gone through many transformations during the life of the beautiful detective. When she was little, her parents called her 'Kitty Kat,' just because they thought it was cute. When she decided (at the all-knowing age of 4) that 'Kitty Kat' was too childish, she became 'Katie' (although her parents still called her 'Kat' when no one else was around). High school came around and 'Katie' evolved into the more mature 'Kate' (with the exception of a few of her friends, such as Madison Queller, affectionately calling her 'Becks'). She had never liked when people called her 'Katherine.' After her mother's death, 'Kate' transformed yet again. As she worked her way through the Academy, she became known as 'Beckett.' Once she graduated, the title 'Officer' was added. A couple of years later, 'Officer' was officially dropped from her title and she became 'Detective.' When Ryan and Esposito joined her team, they began to simply call her 'Beckett,' and it stuck. Kate built herself a career around the name 'Beckett.' She created a reputation around the name. She buried 'Kate' behind the walls of 'Beckett' and she was determined not to let anyone tear them down. It wasn't until Richard Castle walked into her life that the walls started to crumble.<p>

When Rick Castle became a consultant for the NYPD, Kate was still 'Beckett.' Rick had given her unofficial titles such as 'muse', 'inspiration', and 'work wife.' To the world she became known as 'Nikki Heat.' In the dedication of the first _Nikki Heat_ book, he intimately called her 'KB,' which, while she will never admit it, had given her butterflies the first time she read it. The way he would address her as 'Detective' made it sound as though her job was something glamorous and worthy of praise. It made her feel important. The first time he called her 'Kate,' she knew she should stop him from digging too far. She could feel her walls becoming weaker and weaker, and she couldn't let that happen. And while she tried to block him out, he worked his way right back in past her defenses. When the nick-name 'Becks' resurfaced during a case involving Madison Queller's restaurant, Kate had been sure that he would start calling her that, but he didn't. He seemed simply content to call her 'Beckett.' But she would be lying if she said that she didn't like the way his lips moved as her name rolled off his tongue; that the harsh sound of her last name didn't sound a little bit softer when he whispered it to her to get her attention. Throughout the course of this, she realized she had begun to give him unofficial titles as well. In her mind, Rick Castle went from being 'writer;' to 'consultant;' to 'shadow;' to 'friend;' to 'partner;' and that thought didn't scare her as much as it possibly should have. The first time Rick called her 'Katherine' she had smiled, and for the first time she didn't mind the name because even when he was muttering it under his breath he still managed to make it sound beautiful.

Time passed, and things changed, and relationships fell apart. People died, and daughters left for college, and somewhere along the way Kate Beckett was transformed once again. It started when she realized that Castle had being calling her 'Kate' more than he had been calling her 'Beckett.' This was followed by some dinners at Remy's and drinks at the Old Haunt. It wasn't much longer until the media started trying to define her; 'mysterious friend' went to 'secret lover;' which went to 'mistress;' which eventually evolved into 'girlfriend.' That last term didn't become official until after Castle had been stabbed by one of the people that were responsible for her mother's death. She never left his side.

The first time Castle told her he loved her, he had called her 'KB,' and she smiled at the sense of déjà vu she felt. It had been intimate and the butterflies in her stomach had managed to escape through her eyes and she cried as she told him she loved him as well.

That had been a year and a half ago.

This morning, Kate Beckett had the day off. She planned on going up and visiting Alexis at college and take her out to eat, because Lex had been asking if she would come up and see her because she missed her and while she wasn't fully aware of it, to Alexis, Kate had become 'mom.' Kate, having missed her as well, agreed immediately to come up and see her. She had something she had to tell her in person anyway.

As she got ready to walk out of the loft, Rick came over from his place at his desk and kissed her deeply. He pulled away, leaving her breathless and smiling, and called her 'love,' another addition onto her every growing list of names.

Kate put on her sunglasses in the elevator before getting down to the lobby of the apartment building, because as much as she loved Rick, she still wasn't particularly fond of her picture ending up in some gossip magazine. And while it usually only happened when she was with Rick, there was the mortifying experience where she was photographed buying underwear and she ended up seeing herself on the front cover of a tabloid at the grocery store, so she usually wore the glasses just to be safe

She decided to stop by a coffee shop before going to pick up Lex, and stopped by a little coffee shop a couple of miles outside the city. She put the glasses on top of her head and walked into the shop. She ordered her usual and grabbed an iced green tea for Alexis because she knew that was her favorite. When the woman behind the counter asked for her name, she told her it was 'Nikki' (a running joke between herself and Lanie, who gave her name as 'Lauren' every time she got coffee). When they called her 'name' out, she went to collect her refreshments. The woman behind the counter gave her a look and then spoke to her.

"Excuse me?" She said slowly, as if she was afraid of offending her. "I hope I'm not overstepping… but you look an awful lot like that writer, Rick Castle's girlfriend; I think her name is Kate something…"

She cut the barista's rambling off with a small smile.

"I get that a lot."

She put the extra change in the tip jar, grabbed her drinks and used her free hand to move the sunglasses back down to cover her eyes. As she walked towards the car, she lifted her hand to her necklace lay underneath her blouse, where there were now two diamond rings hanging at the end of it. She couldn't stop the genuine smile that spread across her face.

Because yeah; she was still Kate Beckett right now, but she wouldn't be for too much longer.

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><p>D'awhh. Was that cute? I liked it. Did it make sense? Probs not. Sorry it's so short, but I didn't want to drag it out so long that you all got super bored. :(<br>As always… **Love it? Hate it? Let me know what you think (:**


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